MISSIONARIES are the Best!

The missionaries came over for dinner on Saturday night.

Elder Hall  from the south and Elder Wood from Washington.

Both had very unique and interesting family stories to tell.

And, both helped a little with the puzzle, while RAH did the dishes...ha ha.

Missionaries are the Best!

STRONG FAMILIES....

needed now more than ever.

The more I help people with their family history, the more I realize how complicated families are right now.

So much dysfunction, so much sorrow, so much despair.

If only we would live as the prophets have said, our lives would all be so much better.  And, this goes for my family as well.

When will people recognize that Wickedness never will be happiness?

This morning, I spent a few hours helping Janet Barlow with her family history.  It was fun to share what little I knew with someone who knew even less!

I'm grateful for the mission and for knowing how to do family tree/family search.

I'm grateful Allen taught me all those many years ago to use the computers; what a boon in this day and age in doing family history.  And, the more I help people, the more I realize how complicated it is for the novice.

And, the more I realize that families are very complicated, just like family history!

Fall From Grace

He was on a pedestal...

The more I learned, the higher the pedestal grew in my eyes.

He was one of the truly good ones.

Until a few months ago.

He came tumbling down.

And, I feel sad about that turn of events.

From the Start...

it was just a bad morning.

I arrived at prayer meeting at 8:29, thinking I would be on time for the start at 8:30.  But, they had already started!  What in the heck?

The room was entirely filled and the BOSS (Elder Merrell) watched me come in late.  He has made a commitment to have everyone come on time in 2018...OOPS.

Then, I was trying to help someone print some names to take to the temple; the names JUST WOULD NOT PRINT!  I kept hitting print, and going to the printer to see if they were printed.

No such luck.

I asked Brother Moon to help; he walked to the printer and there were SIX copies of the names.

BAD, BAD, BAD......

A lady asked me to print off a death certificate, but it would only print the top half.  We were NEVER able to get the bottom half printed by the time I left for home. 

I told RAH that it's time for the mission to be over...so many mistakes and errors and so forth.

In spite of all that, I do enjoy the mission, but I'm feeling a little trunky.  So much more to learn, and I'm stuck with what I already know. 

When I arrived home for lunch, RAH had a delicious stir fry ready and waiting to be devoured.

AND, he also had a dozen red roses for Valentine's Day. 

That softened the blows of the morning.

Ah, another day tomorrow to try and do better!

Part Two: The Thoughtfulness of Others

Andrea lives directly behind us.

This picture is VERY old; taken lots of years ago before she had any of their joint children.
She is THE BEST!

In total, she has 11 children in her family;

3 from her first marriage,

Roger had 5 from his first marriage,

And together they have had three children.

The oldest is married and living away from home.

The other 4 from Roger's marriage live part-time with their mother, but they are with Andrea LOTS.

So, she always has a houseful of people to do laundry for and FEED, FEED, FEED.

Over the years, she has shared cookies, desserts, bread, eggs, etc.

Tonight, however, she outdid herself.

She sent over tinfoil dinners for RAH and me.

Can you imagine?  She has 11 people to feed tonite and she sent over tinfoil dinners for US!

Well, that just blows me away.

She is absolutely the kindest, most thoughtful, giving person.  How do I ever repay someone like Andrea?  Oh, I love that young mother.

She puts me to shame and reminds me that I must do MUCH BETTER!

Mattless Yoga

Today, as most Thursdays, I went to mattless YOGA.

Led by the soft-spoken, teeny CeCe, it's a great workout.

And, It's good to go and get a little exercise.

My balance is improving.  Especially on my left foot.  My right foot is still very wobbly, but I'll just keep going and keep trying.

The Thoughtfulness of Others

Yesterday, early in the morning at the mission, I got a note saying Jacquelyn would like to come have some help at 9:00 pm.

Although I couldn't remember who she was, I was ready and waiting for her.  She was a dear lady that I had helped a week ago.

We found her several names to take to the temple, so I got up to print the papers.

When I returned, there was a little sandwich bag of Valentine candy waiting for me.  It was so very sweet and thoughtful.  It had little red kisses, some hard Valentine candy, some chocolate wrapped candies (which she said are delicious!), and one red gumdrop.

I was so surprised and thanked her profusely because it was so unexpected, so thoughtful, and so sweet. 

I am often amazed at simple, yet thoughtful gestures that people do. 

It brings a lot of joy to know those kinds of people and is a reminder that that is the kind of person I would like to be.

Being a Good Steward

I'm going through my father's papers.

I just found some financial reports of his which tell his salary for the year 1984.  I was stunned at how little it was.  Then, I put it into a google chart that tells the value of that amount for 2018.  It was shockingly little.

The thing that amazed me was how generous my parents were; how much they shared with family and how they made that small amount go so far.

When he died, we each got some money from his estate, and I now realize that he was very frugal and was a very good steward over what he had.

For many years, I encouraged him, begged him, pleaded with him to get a newer car.  He always declined.  He didn't go out and buy expensive things.  The only thing he really spent money on was my mom, pies/cakes, and techno gadgets.  (He had so many useless gadgets in his basement after he died.  Still makes me laugh, although I take after him in that regard!)

Oh, dear father and mother, you left such a great legacy of love and being financially conservative.

I've never followed your example, but oh, how I wish I had.

PLAYING THE STOCK MARKET

It's scary;  downright frightening.

And, where will it all end?

About 9 months ago, Allen discovered an app where you can invest in stocks with no broker fees.

At first, he tried to be a day trader; bad news.  We lost most of the time.

Then, he recently tried a new strategy....pick a few safe stocks and stick with them.

We make, we lose a little.  Over all, we are WAY DOWN!

But, he just invested another chunk of money, and it's father frightening for me.

Just hoping......

Addendum:  The stock market took a two-day hit that was the biggest loss ever!  Allen took all the money out on Feb 6, 2018...so that ends our playing the market.

(We have some money in Apple that has been there for several years!)